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How an Architecture Website Got Featured in the iPhone 5 Launch Video

Thursday September 13, 2012 10:23 am PDT by Jordan Golson
Architecture website Dezeen was prominently featured in the iPhone 5 promotional video revealed yesterday, and today the site has posted a brief behind-the-scenes look at how the collaboration came to fruition.

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The site is featured in the video starting around the 1:16 mark, with the iPhone 5 user opening an email with a link to the website. He clicks the link, views the site, navigates to Safari's bookmarks list and then opens another page. The page is viewed during a section of the video discussing how LTE technology provides for "really fast downloads over your cellular network."
Apple contacted Dezeen earlier this year asking us to create a bespoke version of our home page and an editorial page for a possible future marketing campaign. Apple specified that both had to be free of external advertisements and social media buttons, but they did not give any details of how the pages might be used.

The pages [were] created for us by our long-term collaborators Zerofee. Besides the iPhone versions of Dezeen, we also created billboard-sized pages that may, or may not, appear in Apple Stores and outdoor advertising hoardings as part of the marketing push for the iPhone 5.
Given how secretive Apple tends to be with its marketing materials, it remains to be seen if this disclosure by Dezeen will impact Apple's marketing strategy going forward.
[ 37 comments ]

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Eduardo1971
9 months ago
Yeah, I guess they shouldn't expect to work with Apple in the future.

"Loose lips..."
Rating: 8 Positives
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pandamonia
9 months ago
So Apple wanted a website made to look better than it normally would on the browser! Classic.
Rating: 7 Positives
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Battlefield Fan
9 months ago

Given how secretive Apple tends to be with its marketing materials, it remains to be seen if this disclosure by Dezeen will impact Apple's marketing strategy going forward.


Idiots.
Rating: 4 Positives
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John.B
9 months ago

So Apple wanted a website made to look better than it normally would on the browser! Classic.


I wish more websites were scrubbed of cruft like social media links.
Rating: 3 Positives
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nagromme
9 months ago
This doesn’t seem like any great trade secret: they’re telling the tale AFTER the iPhone 5 and marketing materials were already released.
Rating: 3 Positives
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Lapidus
9 months ago
That's good advertising. If their website could handle the amount of visitors right now..
Rating: 2 Positives
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Marcus-k
9 months ago
So Apple uses fake custom made websites in ads... Great.
Rating: 2 Positives
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I WAS the one
9 months ago
by the way... Do you guys really think that webpages and emails and twitter timelines are real in Apple ads? you must be crazy!
Rating: 2 Positives
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Undecided
9 months ago

Its a highly misleading portrayal of web browsing on 4G on the iPhone. Apple has designed it to look better than it will be. Just like how great siri is on the adverts and yet in real life it sux balls.

The UK Advertising watchdog has smacked down Apple a number of times but in the USA you can claim what ever you want without issue.


I totally disagree with that. This is an actual web page being displayed and that same page would look the same on your iPhone, which is totally different from those ads by others which note at the bottom "images simulated" or something.

As for Siri, she responds just as depicted in the ads. The fact that you then expect her to do X and Y, and she doesn't, is not a fair critique. (You didn't provide detail, so I'm just guessing at your criticism - feel free to elaborate.)
Rating: 2 Positives
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kalsta
9 months ago

Having a company make a special webpage for an iphone advert does not show how the iphone handles webpages on 4G or the iPhone. Its made to look better at its job than it is.


You have to be kidding. They're absolutely entitled to show best-scenario kind of situations to promote their products. That's what advertisers do! If it's an actual video of an actual webpage on an actual iPhone, they've done nothing wrong here.

There are grey areas for sure, like when McDonalds spends hours meticulously recreating a burger for a photo shoot, then touches it up, etc. I think that's stepping pretty close to the line of deception… but to their credit, they finally released a video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSd0keSj2W8) which is very open about this process.
Rating: 2 Positives

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